Robbins, Walters Go Again

October 29, 2003|By Daily Press

The expected duel between Woodside's Derrick Robbins and Green Run's Steven Walters didn't materialize in the Eastern Regional cross country meet last year.

Robbins, then running for Denbigh, began feeling light-headed halfway through the race and fell. He eventually qualified for the state meet with a seventh-place finish, 46 seconds behind winner Walters.

Going into Thursday's regional at Newport News Park, Walters and Robbins are Nos. 1 and 2 based on their times in district meets last week. Walters won the Beach District meet in 15:25.95. Robbins won the Peninsula District meet in 15:32. No other runner in any of the four district meets ran under 16 minutes.

The cross country Web site www.milestat.com ranks Walters No. 1 in the state and Robbins No. 3.

The top four teams and the top 15 individuals advance to next weekend's state meet.

Kellam's Natalie Sherback is favored in the girls race. She ran 18:29.41 to win the Beach District. Gloucester freshman Emily Webb ran 19:09 in winning the Peninsula District meet, second-fastest time from last week's district meets.

* Bay Rivers District runners converge on Loriella Park in Spotsylvania County on Thursday for the Region I meet. Tabb's Sean Bossman and Grafton's Daniel Swale finished 1-2 in the Bay Rivers meet, 5 seconds apart, with Bossman winning in 15:55. The top 15 runners in the Bay Rivers finished ahead of the winning time in the Battlefield District meet, a race won by Stanley Peyton of King George in 17:28 according to milestat.com. The Web site ranks Bossman 10th and Swale 12th in Group AA.

* Peninsula Catholic, which won its 12th Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools cross country championship in 15 years last week, goes after a bigger prize on Friday -- the State Independent Schools Championship at 2 p.m. at Woodberry Forest.

It will be a tough prize to capture.

"There will probably be about 40 schools there, and the competition gets tougher every year," PC coach Chris Davidson said.

The best the Knights have finished was third in 1993. This season, Davidson isn't sure how his team will do.

"I wouldn't say this is our most talented team, but it has a lot of heart. We'd like to get back into the top five," he said. "Last year, I thought we had a pretty good team with two runners who made all-state (Bobby Lindemann and John Gounley) and we finished ninth."

Friday, the Knights had no trouble in winning their 10th TCIS title in 11 years, scoring 30 points. Defending champion Walsingham was second with 51. "From top to bottom it was our best performance of the year," Davidson said.

SOCCER. Denbigh Baptist's boys soccer team, riding a 13-game winning streak, will be at home at 11:30 a.m. Saturday against Grace Christian of Staunton for its opening game in the Virginia Independent Schools Soccer Association state Division II tournament.

The game, originally scheduled for Friday, should be a mismatch, judging by the teams' records. The Minutemen, the No. 1-ranked team in the VISSA Division II poll and top-seeded in the tournament with a 19-1 record, faces No. 8 Grace Christian, which is 8-9.

Denbigh Baptist hasn't been able to find out a lot about its opponent.

"I hear they're a very athletic team, that they're very aggressive and like to play physical," said Denbigh Baptist assistant coach Bob Mosely. "We've told our kids they have to stay focused and not be looking past this game."

A victory would earn the Minutemen a game against the winner of the game between fourth-seeded Holy Cross and No. 5 Steward School on Nov. 6 at Sports Backers Stadium in Richmond. The championship game is the next day.

In the Division I tournament, ninth-seeded Walsingham Academy will be at No. 8 Covenant School of Charlottesville in a 3 p.m. game on Thursday, and No. 4 St. Christopher's of Richmond will host No. 13 Hampton Roads Academy at 3 p.m. Friday.

GIRLS TENNIS. Though Norfolk Academy won the team title, last weekend was memorable for many Peninsula players in the TCIS tournament at Huntington Park.

Peninsula Catholic junior Kelli Young reversed her only regular-season loss, defeating Norfolk Academy's Lauren Downing 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 for the No. 1 flight championship. Young and Tina Ruffin then won two doubles matches for the first-flight title.